This may be my most candid post to date, but I need to begin, and I have a strong sense the Holy Spirit will continue to deepen His work in me even as He continues His work within the Body, who perhaps needs to read these words as much as I need to write them.
To those who really know me, it is no secret: I do not have a marriage to envy, at least not as the world regards envy. In saying that, I also have to acknowledge my marriage is not an isolated battlefield. Perhaps you missed the memo? The devil hates marriage with a passion; he wages war in every marriage. He has been out to destroy mine for twenty seven years and counting.
There is no way to cover twenty seven years in a single writing; ten years, mind you, longer than the longest war involving the United States. But I am sure there are battlefields of marriage with greater longevity than mine, just as there are sadly some that are shorter. Some have greater intensity than mine and some less. But the material point is every marriage IS a battlefield with a persistent and formidable foe who is NOT your spouse.
For those who know my husband, they know him as a "nice guy." I'm not here to throw stones, as you will see in the coming weeks, but rather say if that's all you allow yourself to see in any person, you have tunnel vision, and you are not serving the Body of Christ as Christ desires.
See, I have found in twenty seven years of seeking counsel and male intervention; only one man tried to step persistently into my husband's space, and thus onto our battlefield. In twenty seven years, one person dared to persist. I have had church leaders say, "We'll get back to you," never to hear from them. Other church leaders defaulted to pointing out what I wasn't doing 'correctly'. I have had an older Christian gentleman say pointedly, "I'm not getting involved in another man's business." The excuses I have heard over the past twenty seven years are indeed countless. Again, not throwing stones, but pointing out a gross negligence in the Body that needs addressing. We must collectively wake up and step up, because if we choose to look the other way or avoid getting involved, we are participating in the devil's take down of one marriage after another as we elect silence over involvement.
If my experience over twenty seven years speaks even a whisper of truth to the contagion of silence on this subject in the Body, countless wives are indeed suffering tormenting, soul shattering neglect and abuse while its individual members go out of their way to mind their 'own business'. What exactly is that business if not the well-being of the Body? And that truth is more than sufficient to break my silence. Again, not casting stones. My heart's cry to the Body is WAKE UP, GET UP, ARM UP, SPEAK UP! There is a massive, long-standing war against marriage waging all around us, yet so many who identify themselves as warriors in the Body of Christ are opting to play ignorant or opossum, or worst of all - go AWOL.
In the coming weeks and months, I am going to take Joy In The Morning's blog and share marital experiences as the Holy Spirit leads, but more importantly how He corrected and molded me through the experiences. I refuse to let the devil win, and he only wins if I don't give God the glory due Him; for in fact I am still here - still advancing His Kingdom - still being molded in the Father's hands - still being shaped into His image - Still -
"...we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." (II Corinthians 4:18)
Godspeed, one and all, to the end.... which is but the beginning...♡
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